Darkest Night

Mistystar faced the new WindClan leader. “You speak wisely, Harestar. WindClan chose well in making you their leader, and I’m glad StarClan blessed you with nine lives, for you will need them.” She looked around at the Clans. “I wish you well. I wish you all well.” Alderheart’s paws pricked as her tone darkened suddenly. “But this is RiverClan’s last Gathering for a while.”

Harestar blinked in shock. “What do you mean?”

“We will stay on our land and rebuild what was destroyed by the rogues,” Mistystar told him. Alderheart stared at her, his mouth dry. She seemed to have given her words much thought. Had RiverClan only come here to share this news? Why hadn’t Mistystar spoken earlier? Had she wanted to see first what ShadowClan had to say? “But the Clans can make decisions without us for now. RiverClan needs time. We need peace, and we need to look inward to heal the wounds that have been inflicted on us. From tonight, I am closing our borders.”

She leaped down from the branch and signaled to her Clan with a nod. They crowded forward, following her as she headed for the long grass.

“But we must decide about SkyClan!” Bramblestar called after her.

Mistystar glanced back. “Decide what you like. But I warn you to think twice about letting more strange cats onto your land. You have seen what strangers bring.”

“You can’t go!” Rowanstar called. “Look what happened to the Clans when WindClan closed its borders. We must work together.”

“We are not WindClan,” Mistystar answered. “If there is trouble, you may send a patrol to ask for help. But for now, RiverClan follows its own path.” She slid into the grass. Her Clanmates followed.

Alderheart stared after them, hardly believing his eyes as the grass closed over them like water. “They can’t go.”

Leafpool shifted beside him, her fur pricking. “Perhaps it’s for the best.”

Alderheart blinked at her. “How can you say that?”

She didn’t answer. She was watching the Clans shift and murmur, their mews edged with disbelief.

“This isn’t like RiverClan.”

“RiverClan has gone crazy!”

Anxious mews rippled though the crowd.

Leafpool got to her paws. “Don’t be alarmed.” Her mew echoed over the clearing. “It makes sense for RiverClan to focus on rebuilding. They are like an injured cat, vulnerable and protective of their wounds. Let them have their peace. I know RiverClan. I know how resilient they are. Let them heal, and they will return to us a more powerful ally than before.”

As the Clans’ mews softened to murmurs, Bramblestar blinked gratefully at Leafpool and then turned to the gathered cats. “Without RiverClan, it is more important than ever that we work together. And we are fortunate that an old ally has returned to us.” He nodded toward SkyClan. “Leafstar, please, join the other leaders where you belong.”

As Leafstar got to her paws, the outraged yowl of Crowfeather rang through the air. “No!” Leafstar hesitated. “She doesn’t belong there. What do we know about SkyClan?”

“We’d never heard of them until ThunderClan told us about them,” Scorchfur called out from among the ShadowClan cats. “Why did Firestar, and then Bramblestar, keep this missing Clan a secret so long?”

“Typical ThunderClan!” Strikestone hissed.

The ShadowClan cats sounded suddenly confident.

Alderheart glanced at Sparkpelt. Her gaze was flitting excitedly from WindClan to ShadowClan. Would she join their outcry?

Bramblestar lashed his tail. “You all know of StarClan’s prophecy. StarClan asked us to bring them back.”

“StarClan only told us to find them,” Scorchfur argued. “They didn’t say we had to make them one of the Clans.”

“They are one of the Clans!” Bramblestar’s mew was taut with frustration.

“We only have your word for that!” Crowfeather snapped back.

And StarClan’s! Alderheart wanted to shout out, but he held his tongue. Was it his place to speak for StarClan?

“StarClan sent a prophecy about SkyClan.” Rowanstar raised his voice above the Clans. “We would be foolish to ignore it.”

Harestar nodded. “Another Clan would make us stronger.”

Crowfeather flattened his ears. “We were strong once, without them.”

“Their home is here, with us!” Bramblestar beckoned to Leafstar with a sharp flick of his tail. “Climb up.”

She scrambled awkwardly up the trunk and stood beside the ThunderClan leader. Her gaze was anxious as she surveyed the Clans below. “We want only to live peacefully among our fellow Clans,” she meowed over the hisses. “Darktail was our enemy! He killed our Clanmates too!”

“How?” Juniperclaw demanded. “You only joined our last battle with the rogues. I don’t remember hearing that any of you died.”

“He invaded our home in the gorge and took over,” Leafstar explained. “Eventually, he drove us from our camp.”

“Eventually?” Juniperclaw’s mew was suspicious.

“He lived with us for a while. Like ShadowClan, we didn’t realize how evil he was until it was too late.”